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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28777254">The Christmas Party</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yatorihell/pseuds/Yatorihell'>Yatorihell</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In The Darkness [66]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, ノラガミ | Noragami (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Multi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:48:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,920</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28777254</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yatorihell/pseuds/Yatorihell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A vision reveals a disturbing piece of information.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bishamonten | Vaisravana/Kazuma, Iki Hiyori/Yato</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In The Darkness [66]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/547369</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Christmas Party</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yato kept an eye on Hiyori in the week following the cursed necklace, more so whenever she had separate classes from Yukine. He took note of Hiyori’s timetable and, whilst escorting her to every class would come off as weird and stalker-y, he made sure Nora wasn’t following her when they parted.</p><p>Only in their final Potions classes on Friday did Yato feel somewhat at ease; Hiyori and Yukine right beside him, and Nora nowhere in sight. Nora, it seemed, had lost all interest in him and his friends again, but this Yato was loath to believe she wasn’t planning something.</p><p>Yato stirred honeysuckle into his cauldron mix but his thoughts were occupied as he watched Madame Kofuku glide around the tables at the front of the class. The sight of her brought guilty thoughts of not searching for the horcruxes all week, too preoccupied and brimming with worry and anger to try and subject himself to the Sorcerer’s mind games.</p><p>Yato made a silent promise to start again tonight as the final bell rang out and they left the class.</p><p>Thought Yato expected Madame Kofuku – or even Professor Tenjin – to pull him up on a lack of horcrux-finding at the end of the day, he nor Yukine or Hiyori expected three invitations to arrive in the post the following morning.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>You are cordially invited to a</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Christmas party</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>hosted by</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>Madame Kofuku</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>December the 20<sup>th</sup> at 8PM</strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>The party will be held in M. Kofuku’s office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry</strong>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>“That’s today!” Yukine grumbled. He flipped the navy envelope over in his hand and sighed. “Couldn’t she have given us more notice? We’re meant to be going home tomorrow.”</p><p>Yato shrugged, unfazed. It wouldn’t be a big event, no need to get dressed up, but it seemed from Yukine’s and Hiyori’s looks that weren’t the case.</p><p>It seemed that, when Yato saw Bishamon and Kazuma holding identical invites, it would be an intimate affair of Madame Kofuku’s favourite students, all of which were members of the Order of the Phoenix.</p><p>“Madame Kofuku did this a few years ago,” Kazuma explained. He and the other invitees had taken up residency in the library, tucked away in the back away from the few students who used their weekends to hole up in the library to study. “She thought it would be a good idea until someone spiked the punch and they’d all made a mess of the infirmary.”</p><p>Yukine snorted at the idea, propped in his usual window seat, hand resting his chin. Chilled winter sunlight broke through the lattice window behind him. “Sounds like a job for me and Yato.”</p><p>Yato, leaning on the wall beside Yukine with his arms folded, shared a conspirator’s smile with Yukine and a glint in his eye that hinted at trouble.</p><p>“Absolutely not,” Bishamon cut in before Yato could join the plot. “Madame Kofuku has invited us, so we will be perfect guests, lest Professor Tenjin bans parties altogether.”</p><p>Yato rolled his eyes with a tut before his gaze landed on Hiyori, the only person on the table facing him. He winked with an impish grin, unexpected and making her heart flip. She hoped no one noticed her cheeks warm as he looked away, and it seemed they hadn’t as Bishamon’s attention was on Kazuma.</p><p>“It’s been a while since we’ve been to a party,” Bishamon said.</p><p>Kazuma nodded in mute agreement. “The Yule Ball.”</p><p>There was a beat of silence as they recalled the winter night, nearly two years ago now yet feeling like a lifetime had passed.</p><p>“Do you think it’s a black-tie event?” Yato asked nobody.</p><p>Bishamon snorted as if he’d asked who’d won that year's Quidditch World Cup. To be honest, Yato probably didn’t know the answer to that either. “Just don’t show up in <em>that</em>.”</p><p>Yato looked down at himself, offended. He was wearing the jacket and trousers Sakura had given him, with one of his older, greyer white shirts. He glanced back up at her and spread his arms out. “You mean I can’t wear a three-day-old tracksuit to a party?”</p><p>Bishamon made a face of disgust and rose to her feet, her chair scraping behind her. “That explains the smell. Just wear something nice. See you at the party.”</p><p>Hiyori gave Bishamon and Kazuma a small wave as they meandered through the bookcases and out of sight, hand in hand, and sighed.</p><p>“I should get going too,” Hiyori said. She pushed her chair out more quietly than Bishamon did. “I promised Aimi and Yama that we would do homework together before we go home.”</p><p>“It’s Christmas, we don’t have homework,” Yato protested.</p><p>“Yes, we do, we just don’t ignore it as you do,” Hiyori quipped back, with Yukine agreeing from behind Yato.</p><p>“I’ll see you later…” Hiyori paused and eyed Yato’s jacket and the faded white shirt that had mysterious stains down its front. “… and please, wash that tracksuit.”</p><p>Yato pouted as Hiyori turned a corner around a bookcase and disappeared from sight. He turned to Yukine. “Good thing I still have my robes here, else I would be wearing this to the party.”</p><p>Yukine grumbled in return, his arms folded over his chest and a leg dangling from his window perch. “I hope you plan on asking her out.”</p><p>The blank look on his face told Yukine that, no, Yato was not planning on asking her out. He sighed.</p><p>“It’s a <em>party</em>. And we’ve just been talking about the <em>Yule Ball</em>. Don’t you think you should at least ask to walk her there?” Yukine spelt out.</p><p>Yato scrunched his face and ignored the quickening heat rising in his chest. <em>Was Hiyori expecting an invitation from him? Was this turning out to be a double date featuring Yukine? No, this was a party among friends.</em></p><p>“What do you mean, ‘ask her out’? The three of us are going together,” Yato replied. The feigned ignorance of Yukine’s implication was equally ignored.</p><p>Yukine shrugged, unfolded his arms and swung his other leg down so he could stand. He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Well, maybe I just won’t go, or maybe I’ll be fashionably late to the party, or maybe I’ll get there early and see what I can do about the punch.”</p><p>Yato gave Yukine a warning look that went unheeded as Yukine smirked and swaggered out of the library before Yato warn – <em>beseech</em> – Yukine not to put him in a situation akin to his attempts at asking Hiyori to the Yule Ball.</p><p>It seemed that whatever the case, it would be Yato and Hiyori going to the party together.</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>Yukine was nowhere in sight at the allocated meeting point at the bottom of the grand staircase, and Yato cursed him for it.</p><p>He had butterflies in his stomach and felt like a fool to be waiting in his best eveningwear waiting for Hiyori to emerge on top of the staircase the same way she did at the Yule Ball. It was made worse by the curious looks of passing students, wondering why he was dressed up and why he was trying to hide by the Great Hall’s doors.</p><p>Yukine was probably already with Madame Kofuku, despite the bell tower in the courtyard signalling it was only quarter to eight and that he had another agonising fifteen minutes to wait until he could escape the gawks and whispers of younger students.</p><p>Yato made a mental note to sabotage Yukine’s next potion for standing him and Hiyori up like this, but any embarrassment Yato felt immediately melted away when a flash of colour on the stairs told him his date, no, <em>Hiyori</em>, had arrived…</p><p>Looking far, <em>far</em> more ridiculous than he felt.</p><p>Frills and a shocking shade of pink that edged on purple quickly blurred towards him, and through Yato’s wheezed laugh he heard Hiyori say something that he couldn’t quite catch.</p><p>“Hey look, it’s the sugar plum fairy,” Yato wheezed as Hiyori stomped up to him with a pout that could put Yukine to shame. He wiped away a tear that had formed in the corner of his eye and took in Hiyori’s outfit. Not even the bow on the back of the dress could save her from looking like a questionable, trussed up dessert.</p><p>“I. Look. Ridiculous!” Hiyori seethed. She pulled Yato closer to the Great Hall’s door alcove in a bid to hide between him and the door.</p><p>Hiyori knew she should’ve packed her own suitcase, or even added a simple dress herself, but her mother’s insistence on <em>‘how pretty’</em> the dress was had worn her down. The harmless thought she had was that she wouldn’t have a reason to wear it was proving to be a fatal mistake. She didn’t even have the chance to find a new one in Hogsmeade after a laborious afternoon of Christmas homework.</p><p>Yato tried to fight his growing grin and looked at the floor, noticing Hiyori’s pumps which, unfortunately, matched her dress. A flash of a gold bracelet on her wrist snagged his attention when he looked up again, and in a heartbeat, he knew it was the same one he had given her at the Yule Ball.</p><p>“It’s not <em>that</em> bad,” Yato lied once he’d composed himself enough to stop himself from doubling over again.</p><p>The look Hiyori gave him was enough to silence any more complements or jibes, instead, provoking him to offer a solution to her problem. “Want me to fix it?”</p><p>“How?!” Hiyori voice was nearly a wail, the prospect of having to walk through the castle and into the party wearing a monstrosity so bad that she was ready to turn heel and go back to her room.</p><p>“Just stay still.”</p><p>Yato pulled his wand from the folds of his pocket and aimed at Hiyori, chanting a spell she didn’t recognise yet enveloped her in a shimmer of white that transcended to her dress. The frills flattened into the skirt and the colour faded into a muted pink that was akin to her Yule Ball dress.</p><p>Hiyori stared down at herself, mesmerised, whilst Yato concealed his wand once more and offered her his arm, fighting the blush that crept onto his cheeks at the fact Hiyori was gaping at him.</p><p>“Shall we?” Yato asked, and Hiyori’s mouth snapped shut. She looked down the corridor that led to the Hufflepuff dorms.</p><p>“No Yukine?”</p><p>“I think he’s abandoned us for canapes.”</p><p>“Smart move.”</p><p>“You should know something though, Cinderella.”</p><p>Hiyori looked at Hiyori in confusion, her arm in his and her hand placed atop, waiting to be taken to the ball. “What?”</p><p>Yato grinned. “The magic wears off at midnight.”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>Hiyori was in bed way before midnight, but Yato lay awake staring into the darkness as the bell outside announced that he’d been laying in bed for two hours.</p><p>Perhaps his mind was replaying the night's events too frequently for him to fall into a dreamless sleep, but he invited the new memories as they flittered across his eyelids; Yukine’s shit-eating grin when Yato and Hiyori arrived together, closely followed by Bishamon and Kazuma. The suspicious look Bishamon gave Yukine as Madame Kofuku served watery punch with their late dinner. Walking Hiyori back to her dorm and bidding her goodnight as he did two years ago. Yukine’s wink as he watched them go.</p><p>Yato’s mind flicked back to the brief conversation about horcruxes, which has made him nearly choke on his food in a panic. Madame Kofuku had only informed Kazuma and Bishamon that that Professor Tenjin was now working with them, and what Yato’s role was now that he may be able to find the horcruxes himself. Bishamon looked wary, but there was a hint of recognition for what he was putting himself through. Even Kazuma raised a glass in thanks, making for a hasty toast to his success.</p><p>Yato rolled onto his front with a sigh, as he remembered the rest of the night again. Yukine’s insinuating wink, his insistence that he ask Hiyori to the party, and the fact he planned for the two to arrive and leave together. Yukine’s matchmaking wasn’t a distraction he wanted when he felt fool enough around Hiyori; not when those feelings may not be reciprocated.</p><p>Thankfully, he didn’t get a disappointed look when he told Madame Kofuku that he hadn’t found anything yet, omitting the fact that he hadn’t even been looking. But the flicker of Madame Kofuku’s eyes between him and Hiyori and the slightest of smiles told him that she knew the truth.</p><p>Yato sighed and buried his face his pillow. He needed to find answers.</p><p>He willed his mind to stop replaying every moment of the night until blackness rolled across his eyelids, not realising he’d fallen into a listless doze that dragged him deeper with every breath.</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>Yato found himself in Professor Tenjin’s office, but the headmaster was not in his usual place in his seat. His senses dulled to the crackle of a lit fireplace beside the large sunlit window and to the musty smell of decaying books that covered the walls in an array of faded fabric coverings. Fawkes, too, seemed to be missing.</p><p>The line between dream and vision was thin, but the fact that Yato was in his own body and was within Hogwarts, it seemed that he erred into dreams rather than reality.</p><p>Yato stepped towards the table, and though a niggling at the back of his head told him he shouldn’t, he looked over the rolls of parchment spread across the table. Yato frowned as he read through the scrolls, loopy black ink blurring and not entirely making sense, yet he could tell that these scrolls were restricted with knowledge of the Dark Arts.</p><p>His eyes danced across each scroll, to the inkpot and the large, ornate phoenix feather quill tucked inside of it. A glitter of silver caught his eye beside the inkpot, nearly tucked out of sight underneath a scroll aside from the tell-tale chain which beckoned him to pick it up.</p><p>Yato pinched the chain and gently pulled, trying to be quiet despite no one being there to hear him. He felt a heavy weight at the end of the chain dragging against the oaken table, rustling the parchment out of the way until it was free and dangling at the end of his fingertips. A polished black stone reflected his confusion back at him, inset in silver and begging him to open the clasp and reveal its secret.</p><p>The secret contained in Sakura’s locket.</p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>“How would Sakura’s locket be in Professor Tenjin’s office?”</p><p>Yukine’s question hung over them as Yato slammed the compartment door shut behind him. They were cocooned in the Hogwarts Express with the sound of whizzbangs and screams outside as they set off back home for the Christmas break. He shut the blinds so they had some semblance of privacy.</p><p>“I don’t know. I don’t know when that vision was – if it was recent or a long time ago – but it was the same locket that I saw in Grimmuald Place,” Yato replied. He flopped onto the worn cushioned bench beside Hiyori and stretched his legs out until they kicked the opposite bench.</p><p>“Maybe he gave it to her years ago,” Hiyori suggested. “She was his student. Or it could’ve been her parents from when they were in the Order.”</p><p>“Or they’re just pieces of jewellery,” Yukine added.</p><p>Yato shook his head. “No. It’s like, its calling to me, and…” He knew that he’d seen the locket before. In Hogwarts. “I think I saw the locket in Professor Tenjin’s office, the day when Hiyori got cursed.”</p><p>Yukine and Hiyori exchanged a look at each other and then at Yato. So it was recent.</p><p>“How can he have it if it’s locked up in Grimmauld Place?” Yukine probed.</p><p>“I don’t know.” Yato pushed a hand through his hair. The phrase was driving him mad<em>. ‘I don’t know’</em>. He should know. He should have asked Sakura the first time he found it; asked what it was, asked why the clasp was stuck.</p><p>“I told Madame Kofuku as soon as I had the vision,” Yato continued. “She thinks it might be a horcrux, but why would Professor Tenjin hide it from us?”</p><p>“Maybe it’s not a horcrux,” Yukine supplied.</p><p>“It must be,” Yato shook his head again. “That’s what the vision showed me, and somehow Professor Tenjin knew about the locket and took it.”</p><p>It was impossible, what with all the charms and protections on Grimmauld Place, but the headmaster had used it himself as a headquarters in the First Wizarding War. He probably knew the house like the back of his hand.</p><p>“If it is, then we don’t really know what Professor Tenjin is doing with it…” Hiyori trailed off.</p><p>The insinuation hung over them. They were no strangers to teachers being Deatheaters, but the headmaster? After being hunted by the Ministry and other Deatheaters?</p><p>No. It was an impossibility. There would be a reason for why a horcrux had ended up in the headmaster’s hands.</p><p>Yato shook his head silently and looked out the window as the train rumbled to life and began to pull out of Hogsmeade’s snow-covered hills, lost in thought.</p><p>He refused to believe that Professor Tenjin – a kindly old man who kept him straight in his unruly years, who believed him when the Sorcerer returned, who took the blame for him when the Order of the Phoenix was discovered – was a Deatheater.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for all the messages at the end of last year. I hope you had a good break and are well. <br/>I haven't written much so hopefully I'll get the next chapter out on time, but I'm getting back into the habit. With any luck the series will be done by the end of 2021.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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